LIVE. Budget: Bayrou wants to remove two public holidays, Easter Monday and May 8

François Bayrou calls for a national strategy to reclaim French foreign trade, with the identification of "products most suited to localizing manufacturing on our soil" and support for "our sectors of excellence." He promises that the state will bring together " large companies, medium-sized businesses, and start-ups " to establish this strategy.

This recovery must be accompanied by "changes in our consumption patterns" and for this, a tax on small imported packages will be proposed " in order to protect our businesses and our producers from the tide of unfair competition that is assailing them ."

François Bayrou then unfolds the " third major chapter " of his plan. " We must generally improve competitiveness, that is, the capacity, efficiency, and attractiveness of our economy ," he explains, with energy as " the first factor to act on. "

François Bayrou is proposing a trade-off for businesses: " fewer subsidies in exchange for more freedom, simplification, and trust." He wants to discuss with businesses a reduction in " bureaucracy" in exchange for a reduction in subsidies. This simplification should be implemented through decrees to save time.

" This way, everyone wins ," the head of government believes. "The state saves money, businesses can work better, and this could generate billions for the state."

François Bayrou will propose negotiations with social partners to open a project on labor law, facilitate recruitment, and increase job offers. " Our goal must be to ensure that work is always a winning choice ."

To this end, the Prime Minister will propose to Parliament, before the end of the year, a bill creating a " unified social allowance " which must make " solidarity more transparent and which always gives priority to work ."

François Bayrou has mentioned the elimination of two public holidays, proposing that Easter Monday , which he says has "no religious significance," and May 8, be worked. This change to our calendar " would bring in several billion to the state budget ."

" These are proposals ," the Prime Minister nevertheless tempers. "I am ready to accept them or examine other ideas that may arise ."

The Prime Minister announced that the government would be " uncompromising with those who violate fairness ." He highlighted the gap between detected fraud and paid fines: $15 billion in fraud, with $11 billion recovered in 2023, and $16 billion in 2024, with only $11 billion in fines paid.

François Bayrou has stated that a law will be introduced in October to improve the detection and fight against fraud, particularly in systems such as MaPrimeRénov' , the CPF account, and health spending in general.

Without going into details, François Bayrou indicates that he wants to concentrate "on tax and social security loopholes, which primarily benefit wealthier households and large companies."

The head of government proposes in particular to set up a "solidarity contribution for the most fortunate" , in order to "make the highest incomes participate in the national effort" , and to "fight against the abusive optimization of non-productive assets" .

All the savings listed represent approximately €21 billion, explains François Bayrou. For the rest, the Prime Minister is proposing " a blank year " in 2026, with retirement pensions and social benefits maintained at the same level as in 2025. " No less, but no more."

"There will be no exceptions ," assures the Prime Minister, while ensuring that low inflation will make this freeze less painful.

"This will affect the public sector payroll," specifies François Bayrou. There will therefore be no "categorical revaluation in the ministries." Similarly, " the income tax scale will be maintained ." All this, he assures, "represents 7 billion euros in savings."

The Prime Minister has announced a change in the coverage of long-term conditions : from 2026, "medicines that are unrelated to the declared condition" will no longer be reimbursed at 100%.

François Bayrou also advocates that patients should be able to "eliminate the status of long-term illness when their state of health no longer justifies it."

" We are and can be proud of our healthcare system ," declared François Bayrou, " but we must also be aware that if we do nothing, the automatic drift will lead us to imbalances ." As part of a plan to reduce annual social spending by €5 billion, the Prime Minister announced the doubling of the annual excess on drug reimbursements to €100.

It is also necessary to " empower patients ." François Bayrou is tackling the need for vaccination to ease overcrowding in intensive care units.

" We must regulate the unreasonable increase in visits by some patients to check a diagnosis or to verify what the previous doctor told them, as well as the ever-increasing increase in X-rays or scans ," the head of government emphasizes.

" All state operators and countless agencies will play a full part in this effort ," asserts François Bayrou, who announces the elimination of " unproductive agencies " and, consequently, 1,000 to 1,500 jobs. " A reorganization of operators must be carried out ," explains the Prime Minister, proposing re-internalizations and a resumption of " responsibility for some of these actions " by the state.

"Communities will also have to play their part" in the effort, François Bayrou emphasizes. "The rule will be that their spending does not exceed the growth of the nation's resources in the coming years," he explains, promising in return "exceptional support of 300 million euros" for the departments in greatest difficulty .

" No ministerial department will be exempt. All ministries will be united ," assures the head of government. "The State will regain control of its payroll by eliminating 3,000 positions in 2026," promises the Prime Minister. This effort will be long-term, with the application for the coming years of a rule of " non-replacement of one in three civil servants retiring."

" Our defense effort cannot be ignored ," insisted François Bayrou after discussing the multiple international crises. " Instead of the $40 billion in savings planned if the situation had not worsened, we have decided to increase this figure to $43.8 billion, or nearly $44 billion ," explained the Prime Minister.

The plan to curb the increase in debt involves "above all the stabilization and reduction of public spending, because its runaway growth is not compatible with the increase in our national wealth," the Prime Minister said.

After this second principle of his plan, François Bayrou explains the third: "everyone will have to participate in the effort." "Given the scale of the challenge, it is illusory to think that one category or another can bear the burden alone," believes the head of government.

The "fourth principle" listed aims to spare " as much as possible " the work and competitiveness of French companies. They " are our only weapon to move forward ." Finally, according to its fifth principle, this effort must be " defined to be bearable for all ."

The first part of François Bayrou's plan, the "stop the debt" plan, is a multi-year debt reduction program over four years, from 2025 to 2029. The Prime Minister affirms that the objective of a rebalancing in 2029 is "achievable" .

It thus forecasts a deficit of 5.4% of GDP in 2025, which should fall to 4.6% in 2026, then 4.1% the following year, 3.4% in 2028, and finally 2.8% in 2029.

As announced, the Prime Minister confirms the implementation of two plans to redress public finances: one to say "stop the debt" and the other to say "forward to production" .

" Every second that passes, France's debt increases by €5,000 ," François Bayrou insists at the start of his presentation.

After discussing the crises that shook Italy, Spain and Greece in the 2010s, the Prime Minister explained that France's debt now represents more than 3,300 billion euros, or " 114% of the national product each year ."

If nothing is done, the share of public spending devoted to paying interest on this debt, which is increasing " by more than 150 billion per year ," will reach 100 billion euros by 2029. " That is to say, it is by far the largest item in the state's budget, much more than the budget devoted to national education ," emphasizes François Bayrou.

François Bayrou takes his place at the lectern and greets the room. "It's been more than fifty years since our country" presented "a balanced budget," and "our public spending exceeds revenue every year," the Prime Minister recalls, denouncing a "habit of deficits."

Journalists begin to set up for the Prime Minister's press conference on Avenue de Ségur, the headquarters of the social ministries, which also includes an annex of Matignon.

By 2025, France is battling to keep its public deficit below 5.6% of GDP, well above the 3% limit set by the European Union's Stability Pact . Launched in 2024 by Brussels, the excessive deficit procedure, a warning calling for corrective measures, has been suspended.

For the French government, it is also a question of proving to the European Union that it can find solutions to return the deficit to below 3% by 2029.

François Bayrou will speak at a press conference at 4 p.m., to which several parliamentary group leaders have been invited.

His 45-minute speech will be supplemented by those of five other members of the government: the Minister of the Economy Éric Lombard , the Minister of Health and Solidarity Catherine Vautrin, the Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin, the Minister of Regional Planning François Rebsamen and the Minister of Labour Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet.

In his speech on July 13, Emmanuel Macron announced that he wanted to strengthen the defense budget by adding 6.5 billion euros in additional spending over two years.

The President of the Republic cited the Russian threat in particular to justify this increase, which will bring this budget, which has doubled since 2017, to 64 billion euros.

The government has set itself the objective of reducing the deficit to 4.6% of GDP next year , compared to 5.8% in 2024. A difficult objective to achieve, especially in a tense international context.

To address growing trade and military tensions, Emmanuel Macron has called for an additional €3.5 billion effort for defense in the 2026 budget.

To reduce the public deficit to 4.6% of GDP by 2026, the government must find at least €40 billion. This is a delicate task in a fragmented political context that requires complex trade-offs.

Raising VAT, closing tax loopholes, freezing spending... Several options are being considered. The government could opt for a mix of measures to limit social tensions and parliamentary opposition.

François Bayrou will unveil his broad guidelines for the 2026 budget this Tuesday, July 15, at the headquarters of the social ministries on Avenue de Ségur. With debt reaching 114% of GDP in March and the government calling for savings, the Prime Minister promised to present "a coherent plan, sufficiently precise, even if it remains to be finalized with Parliament, so that everyone understands the role that each must play in this effort."

His plan, which Emmanuel Macron learned about on Friday, has "two parts" : one focused on "a return to a sustainable balance of public finances", and the other on "support for production" .

Hello and welcome to this Live broadcast dedicated to the presentation of Prime Minister François Bayrou's budgetary decisions.